Willoch, who grew up in an affluent family on Oslo’s west side, spent his early teenage years in exile in Uppsala, Sweden during World War II. His family wasn’t reunited in Oslo until well after the liberation celebrations had subsided, but then he was able to finish high school, enter university and study social economics. He started out working for the Norwegian Shipowners’ Association and then a national industrial federation before being elected as a Conservative member of the Oslo City Council and, in 1957, as the youngest Member of Parliament at an age of 29.
[...]
“There is no doubt that he was the most central, imposing and impressive Conservative politician after the war,” Einar Lie, a professor in modern politics and economic history at the University of Oslo, told state broadcaster NRK. Lie is writing a biography of Willoch, in which he’s likely to get credit for the Conservative Party (Høyre)’s strong growth in the late 1970s and 1980s.
It all led to victory in the 1981 national election that left Norway with a pure Conservative government after decades of Labour Party domination and a few coalition governments that didn’t last long. [...]
That in turn set off an unprecedented period of reforms, championed by Willoch, that modernized and opened up a country that was strictly regulated both socially and economically. State- or local governments still had monopoly control over many industries, stores had to close for the day in late afternoon, everything was closed on Sundays, and restaurants were few and very expensive. Housing was also strictly regulated, and there was little room for innovation or entrepreneurs. Oslo had a reputation as one of the most boring and expensive capitals in Europe, even as oil wealth finally began to trickled down into society.
Willoch’s government ushered in sweeping changes like allowing stores to stay open later into the evening and Saturday afternoons, some even on Sundays. NRK began to lose its dominance as the sole broadcaster that offered only limited programming and signed off around or shortly after midnight by playing the national anthem. A few commercial stations started popping up and liberalization paved the way for cable TV and presentation of international networks like CNN. New, less formal restaurants also began opening, along with bars where guests no longer had to also buy food in order to get a drink. Menus also began to feature more exotic food, although sushi bars and Thai food weren’t widely introduced until the 1990s.
Under Willoch’s leadership the proverbial toothpaste was nonetheless pressed out of the tube and there was no way back from his formidable and popular deregulation of Norwegian society. Young Norwegians latched on to what had already become the “Yuppie” (Young Urban Professional) trend elsewhere, also with far more highly educated women entering the workforce. No one needed to worry anymore about running out to the grocery store before it closed at 4pm. Norwegians simply gained much more personal freedom. [...] Professor Lie is among those noting that so much of what Norwegians take for granted today was rooted in Willoch's reforms that shaped today's Norway.
[...]
Also among those paying tribute to Willoch was Crown Prince Haakon, who said he grew up watching Willoch and [Labour's Gro Harlem] Brundtland arguing and debating issues on TV. “He was an important politician but also a statesman,” Crown Prince Haakon, currently on an official trip to the US, told NRK. He added that it was “exciting to follow his engagement also after he left politics.” Willoch was “an important voice in society,” said the crown prince who, by law, needs to remain non-partisan. “We will miss him.”